lo-2 THE NATUKALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Cli. IX. 



ceremony. But when he saw the old battered and 

 broken article that had been sent, his satisfaction was 

 changed to rage, instead of blessing he cursed it, threw 

 it to the ground, and even kicked and spat upon it. His 

 rage at first knew no bounds, thinking that he had been 

 mocked by the heretical foreigners, and his indignation 

 was at first shared by some of the principal inhabitants 

 of the town, but when the explanatory letter had been 

 interpreted to them, their feelings changed, and the poor 

 bell was put up to do what duty it could. There are 

 some good stores in Libertad, the best being branches of 

 Granada houses that buy the produce of the country 

 hides, india-rubber, and gold for export, and import 

 European manufactured goods. 



Captain Velasquez joined me at Libertad, and, after 

 getting breakfast, we started ; the road passes over 

 grassy hills, on which feed cattle and mules. The edge 

 of the forest is not far distant to the right, and all the 

 way along it there have be"en clearings made and maize 

 planted. As we rode along, great numbers of a brown, 

 tailed butterfly (Timetes chiron) were flying over to the 

 south-east. They occurred, as it were, in columns. The 

 air would be comparatively clear of them for a few 

 hundred yards, then we would pass through a band 

 perhaps fifty yards in width, where hundreds were 

 always in sight, and all travelling one way. I took the 

 direction several times with a pocket compass, and it 

 was always south-east. Amongst them were a few 

 vellow butterflies, but these were not so numerous as in 



' 



former years. In some seasons these migratory swarms 

 of butterflies continue passing over to the south-east for 

 three to five weeks, and must consist of millions upon 



